Conventional agricultural planters are often employed to deposit planting material. Many planters include a material dispensing implement that is towed behind a tractor or similar vehicle for distributing planting material, such as seed, fertilizer, pesticide, and other chemicals and materials, onto a furrowed farmland or similar planting surface. The implement may consist of multiple dispensing units that are supported by a common or shared frame that is towed by the tractor. The dispensing units, commonly referred to as row units, may be grouped into two sets—e.g., a left side set and a right side set.
Modern farming practices strive to minimize operating expenses. One way of reducing operating expenses is to reduce wasting seed by avoiding over-planting. Efforts have been made to avoid over-planting by using clutches, such as air clutches, to shut off the row units of a planter when the row units pass over a previously planted section of a field. For example, each set of row unit may be independently controlled, which allows the operator to selectively dispense material from either of the left and right side units or both units at the same time.
Selective activation or deactivation of row units may be accomplished by utilizing an air clutch assembly that controls individual row shutoff for any row unit. Typically, an air clutch assembly is associated with each row unit and is controlled pneumatically from the tractor cab using a GPS signal or manual controller. Because each row has its own air clutch assembly, the planter can be divided into as many sets or sections as desired, providing improved flexibility to the user. The air clutches are controlled to disengage by disconnecting power transmission to, and thus stop seed delivery from, seed meters at the row units when passing over a previously planted section of the field.
Air clutch assemblies have been increasingly popular because users are able to avoid double seeding and increase field yields. They have the advantages of being flexibly installed in many preexisting planters and work well with vacuum, air, and mechanical units. They are instantly activated and deactivated by user commands from a control unit and GPS so there is no lag time.
However, air clutches typically include multi-segmented housings that can develop separations at their joints over time. Even small separations can allow water, dust, and other foreign materials to make their way inside of, and contaminate, the air clutches. Contamination with foreign materials can cause air clutches to fail prematurely and otherwise degrade performance. One such performance degradation is contamination-induced binding in which the air clutch intermittently and unexpectedly shuts off or disengages. This correspondingly shuts off the seed meter and prevents seed delivery, leading to an unplanted portion of a furrow being worked by the row unit. These problems can cause a financial lost in terms of repair costs, as well as, lost production time.
Therefore, it is a primary object and feature of the present invention to provide an air clutch cover sealably protecting an air clutch assembly from foreign material ingress.
It is a further object and feature of the present invention to provide an air clutch cover including an air and liquid tight seal between the radially extending flange of the air clutch cover and an air cylinder of an air clutch to protect the top of the air clutch from foreign ingress.
It is a still further object and feature of the invention to allow the air clutch cover to be easily installed onto an air clutch assembly.